I have done much of my free speech advocacy within the Liberal Democrat party, and for two reasons.  Firstly, I am a party member and committed Europhile, and secondly Lib Dems are broadly representative of the large ‘centre ground of British politics’ that needs to be on board if we are to stand up for free speech and unfettered debate in the UK. 

However, when it comes to topics the Lib Dem leadership deems ‘sensitive’, such as alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party, the party reflects the nation’s ills.  Rather than question the evidence-lite narrative parroted by the mainstream media, a succession of party leaders has chosen to take the path of least resistance and endorse it.   But worse than this, the party establishment has outlawed discussion of the topic on internal discussion platforms.

I now provide a case study that proves my assertion beyond all reasonable doubt.  You can see the full document below, but here is a summary.  In mid-2020 the Lib Dems instituted what in principle was a groundbreaking innovation: the ‘Policy Lab’, an online forum where people could submit policy ‘ideas’ and have them discussed and voted on by members.  The most popular ones would then feed into the party’s formal policymaking process via the Federal Policy Committee (FPC). 

I tried to submit an ‘idea’ called ‘Let's get serious about press reform and freedom of expression’, but the platform administrator (Greg Foster) took it down within three hours, citing some very weak reasons.   

But this was only the last in a series of such cases.  Since June 2019, a group of party members to which I belonged had been trying to get the antisemitism allegations fully debated, indeed scrutinised, on the party’s various online and other discussion forums. In practice however, our postings were either disallowed, or heavily censored, by no less than eight Lib Dem entities, including LibDemVoice, three Lib Dem Facebook pages, Liberal International British Group (LIBG), Liberal Reform and the periodical Liberator (and in several hustings).  

The worst case was the ‘Lib Dem Policy Debate Facebook Group’ where, on 13 June 2019, a small group of party activists and position-holders assaulted us with serious verbal abuse including four-letter words.  We submitted two formal complaints to the party standards officers, but they kicked them into the long grass and let the culprits enjoy impunity.  

As a last step, I raised the matter in writing with Daisy Cooper, Lib Dem MP for St Albans, in the hope that she would act.  She had formerly been joint Executive Director of the Hacked Off Campaign, and understood the mainstream media’s role in misinforming the public on many issues, so I thought the topic would be close to her heart. 

Daisy responded on Nov 11th without  comment, except to say she had passed the matter to the Lib Dem Headquarters.  Since then, I have heard nothing back and, given my prior experience with HQ, do not expect to.  It is for this reason that I am now publishing the full case on my blog.

Does this really matter?

It matters a lot. What concerns me more than the allegations of ‘antisemitism’ is freedom of expression, in the party and the country as a whole.  If the party censors discussion on one so-called sensitive topic, it can do so on others – and it is already doing so, as I have learn from those engaged in the debate on Trans rights.  The problem is that once the party has the tools of censorship, it can wheel them out any time it wishes to suppress discussion - maybe in the event of a war.  

Lib Dems are justly proud that their party, under the leadership of Charles Kennedy, opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.  However, longer-standing members remember that Lib Dem opposition to the Iraq War was a last minute and close-run decision, accompanied by considerable hand-wringing from a timid party establishment, nervous about tabloid press disapproval and accusations of 'unpatriotic behaviour'.  Given this background, it is vital that Lib Dems do not hand party functionaries like Greg the power to stifle legitimate debate. 

But of even more importance is way Lib Dems are normalising misinformation in Britain’s centre ground, and thereby letting off the hook the rightward-leaning Labour party establishment led by Keir Starmer.  Starmer and colleagues have cynically used the media-driven ‘antisemitism row’ as a stick with which to batter left-wing rivals and members, including many Jewish people who are critical of Israel.  At the time of writing, the most recent case was the suspension of Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, a very principled and professional activist with whom I am well acquainted.  The Lib Dem leadership ought to be calling out the McCarthyistic witch-hunt that is currently taking place within Labour, but it is in reality behaving like the Levite in the parable of the Good Samaritan, “passing by on the other side”.